the median earnings of a driver are around $29.47 per hour nationally and around $31.18 per hour in the top 25 Lyft city markets in Periods 2 and 3.

The driver may be online but may not be driving passengers in Period 1.

This waiting period drives down the average earnings, as in this time the driver is working but without any customers.

Period 1 is variable with some days being extremely slow, while other days are very busy without any downtime.

The estimate of earning of Lyft drivers including all the 3 periods is around $18.83 per hour nationally and around $21.08 per hour in the Top 25 Lyft cities.

In the 1st week, earnings of around $15 per hour is a good start in most of the markets, particularly if you are driving during the busy hours.

However, in some markets, your earnings may be around $12 per hour and in larger markets, you can even earn as high as $18 hourly or even more.

And, if you drive for the Lyft XL (with a minivan or an SUV) or for the Lyft Premiere or Lux (with high-end vehicles) segments, your earnings will be much higher.

This amount is of course not the final amount that Lyft drivers take away, as you need to take into account the costs such as gas, car maintenance, taxes, etc., which come to around $3-$5 in an hour.

Driving Experience

In the ridesharing scenario, the driver’s experience plays a very important role, and drivers with more experience can earn much more than those with lesser experience.

For example, a driver with an experience of 1,000 rides will probably earn much more than drivers having 100 rides or fewer.

The reason for this difference is that the greater the experience, the more efficient the driver will be and the better the driver will know his/her way around the areas, which translates into higher earnings.

How Lyft Helps Its Drivers to Make Money

When Lyft drivers are asked the question of how much they earn, many reply according to the personal goals they have achieved, such as keeping the house running during a career gap or making a down payment on their home.

The time taken to achieve these goals may vary according to the location, season, and lifestyle of the drivers.

Lyft’s objective has been to empower their drivers to make the most out of Lyft and to this end, some of the initiatives Lyft has introduced to enable its drivers to achieve their full earning potential are:

Training on the best areas to drive which is enabled by heatmaps that work real-time.